Admissions advice from Kevin McMullin

On the risks of helicopter parenting

More and more university students are feeling anxious, depressed and dissatisfied than ever before and this is due, in no small part, to the message many of their parents have been pounding them with: They can’t be trusted to govern their own lives. According to a study in the Journal of Child and Family Studies led by associate professor of psychology at the University of Mary Washington, Holly Schiffrin, “Parents are sending an unintentional message to their children that they are not competent.” Time notes that the study lists three elements that must be present in people’s lives for them to be happy: feeling autonomous, competent and connected to other people. Clearly, helicopter parents are depriving their kids of the first two, and I don’t think that being joined at the hip to one’s parents qualifies as being “connected to other people,” so nix the third one, too.